Rosy Rice Pudding

At the Summer Fancy Food Show last year, I noticed a mini-trend (a teeny tiny-trend, actually) of things flavored with rosewater or roses. Yeah, roses as in the flower. It's a popular flavoring in the Middle East and India, but maybe not so much in the western world. Roses taste the way they smell, so I suppose if you're not a fan of rose aromas, your palate might not appreciate their flavor, either. I like it myself, but a little goes a long way.

I purchased some rose water in an Indian market a few years back, and it was so weak as to be unnoticeable. I never ventured back to see if I could find another brand and then forgot about it until the SFFS reminded me.

One company on my list of booths to hit at this year's show was Nielsen-Massey, perhaps best known for their vanilla extracts and pastes. However, I didn't have time to actually pay them a visit, so the nice people at N-M sent me some sample bottles of a few of their various non-vanilla extracts--pure coffee, orange blossom, and rose water. I immediately opened each bottle and took a sniff. Yup - coffee, orange blossom, and rose scents were pretty strong! Couldn't wait to use them.

This time of year, post SFFS, I really wish I could stay home full-time and cook (and eat). I have so many fun things to play with, but they usually have to wait for the weekend until I find a bit of free time. I decided that the rose water games would come first, and I would make a rose water-flavored rice pudding for the 4th of July. Why? because my samples arrived on the 2nd of July, that's why.

Nielsen-Massey included a recipe for rice pudding, but it was the fussy kind with raw rice that requires a bit more time (and stirring) than I had to offer. We already had some leftover cooked rice in the fridge, and I wanted to use that. So I did. When the rice is precooked, it takes less than 30 minutes to prep and cook. Prep basically equals measuring stuff directly into a pot. Once the rice absorbs all the yummy cream and sugar, just stir in the flavorings, let cool a bit, then eat.

I decided since roses are red, and my pudding would be served on the 4th, that blueberries would be an appropriate accompaniment. Red, white, and blueberry!

If you're going to use rose petals as garnish, make sure they are grown without the use of pesticides or herbicides. Do not eat flowers from a florist! It's best if they are grown in your own yard, and they should smell pretty. If they don't have much fragrance (like most of the old, not-well-cared-for roses in my neighborhood), they won't taste like much, either. You don't have to ingest them, of course - use petals as garnish, then pick them off before eating. The Nielsen-Massey rose water will supply plenty of flavoring.

Rosewater Rice Pudding

2.5 cups cooked short grain rice
1.5 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Nielsen Massey vanilla paste
1/4 teaspoon Nielsen Massey rose water
Fresh blueberries
Food grade rose petals (optional)

Combine the rice, milk, cream, sugar, and butter in a saucepot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Remove pudding from the heat and stir in the vanilla paste and rose water.

Eat warm, at room temperature, or chilled, garnished with blueberries and optional rose petals.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Another Take on Rice Pudding

I was a bit of an over-achiever in high school. Ok, so that's not true at all, but it certainly seemed that way in this instance.

--Kathy

This post was originally published on December 14, 2009.
------------------
Another Take on Rice Pudding

When we think of rice pudding, we generally think of the typical Greek-diner version of rice grains suspended in a custardy base, garnished with a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon. But apparently the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, preferred a gussied-up version, with candied fruits and a little hooch. Known as Riz à l'Impératrice, or rice in the manner of the empress, it was one of the first truly adventurous dishes I tackled as a home cook.

My high school French club was having an after-school party and I volunteered to bring a dish. After poring over my dad's collection of food magazines, I found Riz à l'Impératrice in Cuisine. It seemed simple enough (ha!), plus my mother had a collection of groovy copper molds that she wasted on various Jell-O creations.

The Riz was far more impressive than any other dish that showed up at the party that afternoon. Certainly more than the runny chocolate mousse served in Dixie cups. At least *I* thought so.

Recently I decided it was high time to try it again. That old issue of Cuisine perished in a leaky ceiling/mildew incident some years back, and the only other version of the recipe I could find was that of James Beard.

Riz à l'Impératrice, from James Beard
House & Garden, January 1965

2/3 cup rice
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin soaked in 2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup candied or preserved fruit
Rum or whiskey
1 cup heavy cream
Red glacé cherries or candied citron and candied pineapple

Wash rice. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Drain and transfer to a saucepan containing 1 1/4 cups milk and simmer until the rice is very tender. Heat remaining milk.

In the top of a double boiler, combine the egg yolks and sugar. Gradually stir in the hot milk and continue stirring until smooth and thick. Add softened gelatin and vanilla. Strain. Mix into the rice and cool until the mixture begins to set.

Soak the 3/4 cup candied or preserved fruit in a little rum or whiskey for 1/2 hour. Whip the heavy cream and fold in the soaked fruit. Mix into the rice mixture. Turn into a decorative ring mold and chill. Before serving, unmold on a platter and decorate with glacè cherries or candied citron and candied pineapple.

-------------------------------

I found the copper mold I had used originally and realized it had a 6-cup capacity. As I was cooking the rice, I knew it would never fill such a large mold. What to do? Luckily, the rice seemed to need more than 1 1/4 cups milk to reach a properly tender state, so I added an additional cup, a bit at a time. To compensate for the additional liquid, I added 1/4 sugar to the egg mixture. And I thought, what the hell - I'll whip the whole damn pint of heavy cream rather than just half of it. And it fit the mold perfectly.

Needless to say, I skipped the icky glacé cherries and candied fruits; of course that meant I couldn't use the booze. That's ok - my high school friends didn't get any either. At least - not in my dessert.

Now, unmolding creamy desserts can be a tricky thing. One must gently heat the mold to melt just enough of the gelatin to allow the filling to slide out. Too much heat and...

$@*%$@*!!!

Ah...toss some toasted almonds on top and who's gonna know? (I have no idea how I unmolded the thing successfully at school.) What really matters is the taste - so rich, so yummy - possibly the best rice pudding ever. At least, according to Mr Minx. :)



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cypriana Cafe

There are currently two branches of Cypriana Cafe, one in the Sun Trust building on East Baltimore Street, and one in the University of Maryland Medical Center. According to the Web site, both share a menu of salads, paninis, pita sandwiches, pita melts, and rotisserie chicken. I've been going to the UMMC restaurant - really just a counter at which one orders and pays, and then waits for one's food before finding someplace to eat it - for several years now and have been generally happy with everything I've tried.

Not too lady-like, all spread-eagled like that, eh?

The "Big Fat Greek Pita" can be had with chicken, lamb, beef, or gyro meat. While lamb is my usual choice, the chicken version is good, too; even though it features chicken breast, it's quite moist. The best part about the sandwich though, is the "Cypriana dressing," a creamy concoction strongly flavored with tarragon.

The dressing is also the star of the Greek Salad, along with mounds of creamy feta. The salad comprises iceberg lettuce, onions, green peppers, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, and pepperoncini and can also be had with a more traditional oil and vinegar dressing. But why bother - the tarragon dressing is so good, you'll be tempted to slather it on your mouse pad and eat it.

My biggest gripe with Cypriana is that it has the word "Greek" all over the menu, but uses the flat Middle Eastern-style pocket pita for everything and not the soft, fluffy, non-pocket pitas that normally come to mind. But the pitas they do use are always fresh and do the trick well enough.

Cypriana Café at UMMS
22 S Greene St
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 328-2227
www.cypriana.com



Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Another Take on Rice Pudding

When we think of rice pudding, we generally think of the typical Greek-diner version of rice grains suspended in a custardy base, garnished with a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon. But apparently the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, preferred a gussied-up version, with candied fruits and a little hooch. Known as Riz à l'Impératrice, or rice in the manner of the empress, it was one of the first truly adventurous dishes I tackled as a home cook.

My high school French club was having an after-school party and I volunteered to bring a dish. After poring over my dad's collection of food magazines, I found Riz à l'Impératrice in Cuisine. It seemed simple enough (ha!), plus my mother had a collection of groovy copper molds that she wasted on various Jell-O creations.

The Riz was far more impressive than any other dish that showed up at the party that afternoon. Certainly more than the runny chocolate mousse served in Dixie cups. At least *I* thought so.

Recently I decided it was high time to try it again. That old issue of Cuisine perished in a leaky ceiling/mildew incident some years back, and the only other version of the recipe I could find was that of James Beard.

Riz à l'Impératrice, from James Beard
House & Garden, January 1965

2/3 cup rice
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin soaked in 2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup candied or preserved fruit
Rum or whiskey
1 cup heavy cream
Red glacé cherries or candied citron and candied pineapple

Wash rice. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Drain and transfer to a saucepan containing 1 1/4 cups milk and simmer until the rice is very tender. Heat remaining milk.

In the top of a double boiler, combine the egg yolks and sugar. Gradually stir in the hot milk and continue stirring until smooth and thick. Add softened gelatin and vanilla. Strain. Mix into the rice and cool until the mixture begins to set.

Soak the 3/4 cup candied or preserved fruit in a little rum or whiskey for 1/2 hour. Whip the heavy cream and fold in the soaked fruit. Mix into the rice mixture. Turn into a decorative ring mold and chill. Before serving, unmold on a platter and decorate with glacè cherries or candied citron and candied pineapple.

-------------------------------

I found the copper mold I had used originally and realized it had a 6-cup capacity. As I was cooking the rice, I knew it would never fill such a large mold. What to do? Luckily, the rice seemed to need more than 1 1/4 cups milk to reach a properly tender state, so I added an additional cup, a bit at a time. To compensate for the additional liquid, I added 1/4 sugar to the egg mixture. And I thought, what the hell - I'll whip the whole damn pint of heavy cream rather than just half of it. And it fit the mold perfectly.

Needless to say, I skipped the icky glacé cherries and candied fruits; of course that meant I couldn't use the booze. That's ok - my high school friends didn't get any either. At least - not in my dessert.

Now, unmolding creamy desserts can be a tricky thing. One must gently heat the mold to melt just enough of the gelatin to allow the filling to slide out. Too much heat and...

$@*%$@*!!!

Ah...toss some toasted almonds on top and who's gonna know? (I have no idea how I unmolded the thing successfully at school.) What really matters is the taste - so rich, so yummy - possibly the best rice pudding ever. At least, according to Mr Minx. :)

Rice Pudding

Rice pudding has always been a favorite treat of mine. My Mom didn't make it all that often, and when she did it came from a box (Jell-O Americana Rice Pudding), but I still enjoyed it, especially when she sprinkled a little nutmeg on top. I started making it fairly regularly in the early 90s when I picked up a copy of Puddings Custards and Flans, by Linda Zimmerman. It was part of a series of pint-sized cookbooks published by Clarkson Potter and I was busy collecting all of them (Meatloaf was another favorite book in the series.) The recipe for "English" rice pudding sounded like it would be creamy and delicious, and it was. My Dad loved it so much, I usually made a double batch.

Mr Minx is a fan of rice pudding as well, and we had a surplus of milk, so I dusted off the little cookbook (which automatically opened to the correct page) and threw a batch together.

Mrs Donaldson's English Rice Pudding
(adapted from Puddings Custards and Flans)

4 cups milk
2 T unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup raw short-grain white rice
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cinnamon stick
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
freshly grated nutmeg

Combine 3 1/2 cups milk, butter, sugar, rice, vanilla, and cinnamon stick in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately lower heat and simmer pudding for 10 minutes.

Beat the egg with the remaining 1/2 cup milk and stir into the rice mixture. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from heat. The pudding may seem thin but will thicken during cooling. Let cool 20 minutes before transferring into a bowl. Refrigerate for several hours or until it reaches the desired temperature. Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and serve with a garnish of freshly grated nutmeg.

Serves 6.

About fifteen years since I last made it, and still delicious.